1/5 Today I met several #Afghans working in #Istanbul,sorting and collecting garbage.They arrived recently,via #Pakistan and #Iran,after dozens of days of walking. In Turkey, they hold no residence permits&live in constant fear for being arrested.They can’t even get a bus pass... 
2/5 ...certainly no rental contract and they can’t enter many shops as this requires a passport-linked barcode these days due to Covid - which they can’t register for because they are “illegal”, they tell me. “Illegal”, a term usually attributed to an action, but to a human?
3/5 They have little happiness in Turkey, they say:no family around, minimum income, grieving the loss of friends&family members-yet they say that at least they were able to escape war.Their first act in our conversation was kindness: the offer of a plastic cup of Fanta.
4/5 We spoke in Dari; I was quickly told that they followed the news religiously… the fall of #Aybak, #Kunduz, Sar-e-Pul, #Taloqan. The fighting in #Farah. While working, they checked their phones constantly. Worrying, grieving, worrying more.
5/5 Six EU countries said last wk that deportations of #Afghans from the EU shouldnt stop;despite war,violence,killings.I have never-never- had a conversation w/ an Afghan w/o being offered tea.Water.A plastic cup of Fanta-even in an Istanbul garbage dump.What is the EU offering?
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